Quick Takes

Here's actor George Clooney talking to CNN's Larry King last night about his meetings yesterday with President Obama and Vice President Biden to discuss his recent trip to the Darfur border: "[W]e were talking about there's a moment coming up relatively soon -- probably by the middle of next week where the International Criminal Court is going to indict the president of Sudan for war crimes, which has never happened before -- a sitting president. And we talked about this being an opportunity, perhaps, not just for the United States, but all of us together to work with the international community in a real diplomatic effort to try and bring some sort of peace to this region."

Andrew Zajac writes in the Chicago Tribune: "White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel's Washington lodging arrangements, a rent-free basement room in a Capitol Hill home owned by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn) and her pollster husband, have inspired debate among tax experts and in Republican-leaning parts of the blogosphere."

Chris Cillizza writes in The Washington Post: "Former Washington governor Gary Locke is likely to be President Obama's choice to head the Commerce Department, according to several administration officials briefed on the decision."

The Washington Times editorial board delights in Obama's adoption of the Bushian position that military detainees in Afghanistan have no legal right to challenge their imprisonment there: "What to do with the remaining Gitmo detainees? The answer now presents itself: Ship them all off to Afghanistan, where they can be detained for as long as necessary without the right to demand lengthy, complicated trials in U.S. courts that could potentially reveal important intelligence secrets and compromise our national security. Problem solved."

Los Angeles Times opinion columnist Jonah Goldberg looks at Bush policies Obama has adopted, and writes: "You might conclude that the famous pragmatist recognizes that this is a center-right country after all. Or that he is a hypocrite, a statesman, or both, now that the buck stops with him."

Eric Boehlert writes for Media Matters: "The Republican Noise Machine doesn't need the customary 100 days to size up the new president. Right-wing commentators barely needed 30 days to come to their conclusion that they hate everything Barack Obama stands for....Rush Limbaugh's original anti-Obama proclamation at the outset of his presidency -- 'I hope he fails' -- already seems benign in retrospect."

Zachary Roth writes for TPM Muckraker: "Karl Rove was supposed to appear before the House Judiciary committee to testify about the US Attorney firings [yesterday]. And of course, Rove didn't show....Rove had already publicly indicated he didn't plan on being there, citing President Bush's claim of executive privilege. ... The next key date is March 4th -- the new deadline for the Obama administration to weigh in on the Harriet Miers and Josh Bolten case, in which President Bush also asserted executive privilege."

Gautham Nagesh writes for the National Journal that the White House has "announced the staff of its new media team, headed by Macon Phillips, who has been named director of new media."

President Obama will, of course, defend the right of former President Bush to keep all of the crimes of the Bush administration secret. I wonder about the 15,000 prisoners which we held in Iraq on January 1 of this year, after which we had no legal right to hold them. Are we still holding them? Are we continuing to arrest Iraqis? Are there any reporters left in Iraq?